Method of making metallic wire-rope sockets.



No. 662,2I6. Patented Nov. 20, I900.

. .w. s. BIDLE.

METHOD OF MAKING METALLIC WIRE ROPE SOCKETS.

(Application fild Aug, 27, 1900.)

2 sheets-sheet 1.

(No model.)

W/ TNE SSE S 6 @616. M & t

L; ATTOHNEYJ No. 662,2l6. Patented Nov. 20, I900.

w. s. BIDLE. 7 METHOD OF MAKING METALLIC WIRE ROPE SOGKETSJ (Application filed Aug. 27, 1900.) 2 She (No Model) ats,Shaef 2 WITNESSES:

J 9 M A WORN/5Y6 UNTTEE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. BIDLE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

METHOD OF MAKING METALLIC WIRE-ROPE SOCKETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 662,216, dated November 20, 1900.

Application filed August 27, 1900. Serial No. 28,145. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. BIDLE,a resident of Cleveland, in the county of Cnyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Method of Making Metallic lVire-Rope Sockets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improved method of making metallic wire-rope sockets.

The object of this invention is to effect an improvement in the art of manufacturing wire-rope sockets so as to produce a socket of the character indicated that is much less expensive, much stronger, and more durable than the sockets heretofore devised.

With this object in view I have devised a new method of making wire-rope sockets that avoids welding operations; and it consists in the steps hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures I and II are side elevations, taken at right angles to each other, of a wire-rope socket made by myimproved method. Figs. III and IV are opposite end elevations of the same. Fig. V is a side elevation of the billet or stock employed in the production of a socket made by my improved method, and Fig. VI is an end elevation of the same. Fig. VII is a side elevation of a blank into which the billet or stock is converted, and Fig. VIII is an end elevation of the said blank. Fig. IX is an elevation in central section, showing two cooperating dies suitable for use in operating upon the blank illustrated in Figs. VII and VIII. Fig. X is a transverse section on line X X, Fig. IX. Fig. XI shows the face of either of the dies illustrated in Figs. IX and X. Fig. XII is a side elevation of the work as it appears after the operation of the dies exhibited in Figs. IX, X, and XI. Fig. XIII shows the work after fins and other surplus material formed during the operation of the said dies have been removed from the work and shows a hole drilled centrally and longitudinally through the works portion that is to form the basket of the socket. Fig. XIV is an elevation corresponding with Fig. XIII, except that in Fig. XIV a mandrel is shown inserted into the basket-forming portion of the work and dies employed in forming the basket are shown in position ready to operate. Fig. XV is an elevation, partly in section, corresponding with Fig. XIV, except that in Fig. XV the basket-forming dies are shown having operated upon thework. Fig. XVI is a transverse section on line XVI XVI, Fig. XV.

Figs. I, II, III, and IV illustrate a closed wire-rope socket produced by my improved method from the billet or stock, and 10 designates the basket-forming portion of the said socket. The basket 10 is conical externally and internally, being gradually increased in size toward the central portion of the socket and having the rope receiving chamber 9 thereof extending through the basket and flaring inwardly toward the inner and larger extremity of the basket. The basket 10 has its outer and smaller end beveled externally and annularly, as at 11. The remaining portion or arm 12 of the socket has the shape of a bail whose end members 13 and 13 extend from opposite sides, respectively, of the inner and larger end of the basket and are parallel. The central member 14 of the bail or arm 12 is semicircular or approximately semicircular, and consequently curves inwardly from each end member 13 and is preferably wider centrally than the end members 13. Preferably the member 14 gradually increases in width toward its central portion from the members 13. The inner side of the bail or arm 12 has the contour required to form two continuous sloping surfaces 16 and 16, extending from the inner extremity of one of the members 13 outwardly along the said member 13, thence along the member 14, and thence along and to the inner extremity of the member 13. The said sloping surfaces 16 and 16 slope inwardly andtoward each other from opposite faces 17and l7, respectively, of the bail or arm 12 and meet centrally between the said faces. The external side of the bail or arm 12 has the contour required to form two continuous sloping surfaces 18 and 18, extending from the inner extremity of one of the members 13 outwardly along the said member 13 to the central member 14 and along the latter, and thence along the other member 13 to the inner extremity of the last-mentioned member. The sloping surfaces 18 and 1S slope outwardly and toward each other and meet centrally between the faces 17 and 17. Each end member 13 of the bail 12 is gradually enlarged in thickness from the central member 14 toward its inner extremity, and hence the sloping surfaces 16 I tion, as will hereinafter appear, and the socket is not only comparatively inexpensive, but possesses great strength and durability.

Figs. V and VI illustrate the billet or stock suitable for use in making a wire-rope socket by my improved method, and the billet or stock shown is preferably a comparatively short cylindrical metallic piece of iron or steel. The billet or stock along about one-third of its length from one of its extremitiesis heated as required to render it suitable to be operated upon by hammers or rolls (not s hown)-that is, the said rolls or hammers operate upon opposite sides of one end portion of the billet or stock while the latter is in a suitably-heated condition and flatten and elongate the said end portion, so as to form a blank having a flattened or shankforming portion 21, arranged centrally of and projecting longitudinally from the inner end of the remainder or head-forming portion 22 of the blank, as shown in Figs. VII and VIII.

The blank shown in Figs. VII and VIII having been produced is heated as required to render it suitable to be operated upon by and between two corresponding forging-dies 25' and 25 and is then introduced between and operated upon by the said dies in any approved manner, as shown in Figs. IX and X. Fig. XI exhibits the face of either of the said dies, which face is provided with a semicylindrical cavity 26, having the size and dimensions required to render the said die ca pable of passing over and operating, if necessary, upon one-half of the cylindrical headforming end portion 22 of the blank, and a bail-shaped channel 27 is formed in the said dies face and has opposite ends thereof in open relation with the aforesaid cavity or chamber 26. The opposing side walls 28 of the channel 27 of each die 25 slope outwardly and apart, as shown in Figs. IX and X, and the central portion of the channel is wider than the end portions of the channel and gradually increased in width from each end portion of the channel, as shown in Fig. XI, and the end portions of the channel are parallel. It will be observed, therefore, that in the operation upon the blank shown in Figs. VII and VIII by the dies illustrated in Figs. IX, X, and XI the flattened portion or shank 21 of the blank is operated upon and substantially converted into the arm of the socket,

trally of the arm-forming portion of the blank and forms a web to; but when this web and the aforesaid fin are cut away, as is done upon removing the work from between the aforesaid dies, the bail or finished arm of the socket is formed. The web to and the finfare cut away while the blank or work is still hot by any suitable cutting or trimming machine or device. After the arm-forming portion of the socket has been dressed or trimmed by re moving the said fin fand the said web w a hole h is drilled centrallyand longitudinally of and through the cylindrical end portion or head of the blank, as shown in Fig. XIII, whereupon the head-forming portion of the blank is heated as required to render it suitable to be operated upon by forging dies or hammers, and an externally tapering or conical mandrel m is introduced into the aforesaid hole, as shown in Fig. XIV,from theinner end of the said hole, so that the mandrel shall be arranged with its larger end and smaller end within the inner end and outer end, respectively, of the aforesaid hole and thereby accommodate the forging of the mandrel-containing end of the blank into a correspondingly conical shape, so as to form the rope-receiving basket of the socket, as shown in Fig. XV. The heated mandrel-receiving end of the work is operated upon, therefore, by and between two corresponding suitablyoperated forging dies or hammers 30 and 30, that in Fig. XIV are shown in position ready to operate upon the outer end of the basketforming portion of the work, and the mandrel-containing work is gradually fed in any approved manner farther into the path of the said hammers or dies until the basket of. the socket is formed. The forging-hammers 30 and 30 have the contour and arrangement required to render them capable of embracing and simultaneously operating upon opposite sides, respectively, of the work. When the basket of the socket has been formed by and between the hammers or dies 30 and 30, the mandrel m is withdrawn from the work and the outer and smaller end of the basket is dressed in any approved manner to form the bevel 11 of a finished socket.

What I claim is 1. The method herein described of making a wirerope socket, consisting, first, in producing a blank having a head and a shank, then heating theshank-forming portion of the blank and forging and trimming or dressing it into the shape required to form the arm of the socket, then forming a hole within and longitudinally of and through the head-forming portion of the blank, and then heating the last-mentioned portion of the blank and forging or shaping it to form the basket of the socket.

2. An improvement in the art of making a Wire-rope socket, consisting, first, in producing a blank having a head and a shank, then heating the shank-forming portion of the blank and forging it into the shape required to form the arm of the socket, and cutting away any fin formed externally of the arm, and any Web formed internally of the arm so as to form a bail-shaped arm, then drilling or boring a hole centrally and longitudinally of and through the head-forming portion of the blank, then heating the bored portion of the blank, then inserting an externally conical or tapering mandrel Within the hole of the said bored and heated portion of the blank, and forging or shaping the said bored portion upon and so as to conform to the external contour of the mandrel, and then dressing or trimming the last-mentioned portion of the work.

3. The method herein described of making a Wire-rope socket, consisting, first, in heating the billet or stock and forming it into a blank having a head and a flattened shank arranged centrally of and projecting outwardly from and longitudinally of the head, then heating the shank-forming portion of the blank and forging and trimming it to the shape required to form a bail-shaped arm, then forming a hole Within and longitudinally of and through the head-forming portion of the blank, and then heating the lastmentioned portion of the blank and forging and trimming it to the shape required to form the basket of the socket.

4. The herein-described method of making a Wire-rope socket, comprising, first, the

shank-forming portion of the blank and forging and trimming it to the shape required to form the arm of the socket, then forming a hole Within and centrally and longitudinally of and through the head-forming portion of the blank, then heating the head-forming portion of the blank and introducing and arranging an externally'conical or tapering mandrel Within the aforesaid hole, so that the larger end of the mandrel shallbe next to the arm of the socket, and then forging or shaping the heated mandrel-containing portion of the blank as required to render it conformable to the external contour of the mandrel.

5. The herein-described method of making a Wire-rope socket, comprising the heating of the billet or stock and shaping it as required to form a head and a shank arranged centrally of and projecting from one end of the head outwardly and longitudinally of the head, then heating the shank-forming portion of the blank and shaping it into the form of a bail-shaped arm, then boring a hole centrally and longitudinally of and through the head-forming portion of the blank between the end members of the bail-shaped arm, then heating the bored portion of the blank and inserting a tapering or conical mandrel Within the said bored portion, then shaping the said heated bored portion upon the said mandrel as required to render it conformable to the external contour of the mandrel, then withdrawing the mandrel, and then dressing the outer and smaller end of the last-mentioned and basketforming portion ofthe socket.

Signed by me at Cleveland, Ohio, this 13th day of August, 1900.

WILLIAM S. BIDLE. Witnesses:

O. H. DORER, A. H. PARRATT. 

